England skipper Alastair Cook criticises his batsmen for not taking advantage of the chance to bat first after winning the toss following the eight-wicket defeat against India in the third Test at Mohali.

cricketUpdated: Nov 30, 2016 00:01 IST

HT Correspondent Hindustan Times

England skipper Alastair Cook has been left wondering what would have been after winning a good toss on a pitch that didn’t really deteriorate, never recovering after their batsmen threw their wickets away in the first innings and then their bowlers let India’s lower order flourish, leading to the eight-wicket loss in the Mohali Test on Tuesday.(Reuters)

Although the Mohali pitch didn’t deteriorate, England never recovered after squandering the advantage of winning the toss on the first day when many of their batsmen threw their wickets away. With India’s eight-wicket win iin the third Test giving them a 2-0 series lead, England can at best only level the series with two matches left to play.

England had a golden opportunity to post a big total, but their batsmen failed to take advantage as they were dismissed for 283. With India’s lower order ensuring a vital first-innings lead of 134 runs and England managing only 236 in their second innings, the match petered out as a contest.

Highlights

After scoring 537 in the Rajkot Test first innings, England haven’t touched 300 in five innings.

Skipper Alastair Cook hit 130 in the Rajkot Test second innings, but has looked shaky otherwise.

England skipper Alastair Cook was disappointed with the batsmen.

“It was a good toss to win. But if you get bowled out for 280, you won’t win games in this part of the world. You need to get 400 on this pitch, at least. We knew from the last time we beat them after getting them out for 300. It has been a frustrating four days. Credit to India, they outplayed us,” said Cook.

Cook, however, was delighted with Ben Stokes’ all-round show in the series. In the first Test, Stokes scored 128 and followed it up with 70 in the Visakhaptnam match. In Mohali, he claimed five for 73. “Stokes is a brilliant player. He gives balance to the team. He is only going to get better and better,” said Cook